PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. -
Junior Matt Barnes struck out seven as the University of Connecticut baseball team dominated Villanova 7-1 in BIG EAST Conference action in game one of the Friday afternoon double-header.

For Barnes, it was his seventh consecutive victory. He leads the Huskies with 61 strikeouts and 69.0 innings pitched this season as he went 7.2 innings in today's ballgame. Barnes gave up four hits, while walking two on the afternoon. Barnes is now 20-8 in his career. Barnes joins two other Huskies with 20 or more wins as Tom Germano (26) and Patrick Sperone (22) are the only other pitchers in UConn program history to reach the 20-win mark.

UConn (19-12-1, 8-2 BIG EAST) scored the first run of the contest in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Doug Elliot as John Andreoli scored from first. In the fifth, UConn loaded the bases with no outs and produced two runs in the frame, led by a George Springer infield groundout, which scored UConn's second run of the game. Ryan Fuller hit into a fielder's choice to score the Huskies' third run of the day to give UConn a 3-0 lead.

In the sixth, Elliot scored on a Villanova (13-19, 2-8 BIG EAST) error, giving UConn a 4-0 lead, before the Huskies' tallied two more runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. Tim Martin and LJ Mazzilli picked up RBIs in the eighth inning as Mazzilli recorded his ninth double of the season.

Mike Nemeth led off the ninth with a single to left field then advanced to third on a double by Fuller to put runners into scoring position. With one out, Elliot recorded his second RBI of the game with a single to left field to extend UConn's lead to six runs.

Villanova's lone run came in the seventh as Matt Fleishman led off the frame with a solo home run over the left field wall. His four-bagger was just the second given up by Barnes this season.

Springer's double in the first inning extended his current hit streak to 12 games. Elliot finished the contest 4-for-5 with two RBI and one run to lead the Huskies, while Andreoli registered two hits and two runs on the afternoon as well.

UConn played its second game of the Friday afternoon double-header beginning at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon. The series' finale against Villanova is currently scheduled for Sunday at 12:15 p.m.